Teenager Created One Of World's Most Popular Apps While He Was 'Bored At School'

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Teenage boy using his smartphone. He is smiling and wears a knitted cap.

A 15-year-old is being wooed by Facebook after creating one of the world's most popular apps while he was 'bored at school'.

Ben Pasternak created the Apple iPhone game Impossible Rush last October. It proved so popular that it has been downloaded 800,000 times.

The concept is simple: the game tests your brain's reflexes by clicking on a cube to rotate it and collect incoming balls.

But it comes with a warning that it's 'highly addictive' – which no doubt accounts for its huge success.

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Ben, from Sydney, Australia, created the app with another teenager while he was bored at school.

They sold the licence to it for just $200 but its success sparked an interest in Ben from web giants Google, Facebook and Yahoo, who have all offered the teenager internships.

However, savvy Ben has his eye on a bigger prize – attracting investment in his own creativity that could turn him into a millionaire.

Ben has now travelled to Silicon Valley with his family for a Google and MIT Launch sponsored event, Hack Generation Y.

It invites applications from high school students around the world, with 450 young entrepreneurs accepted, who go on to create a product in 36 hours.

Ben was one of just 20 students to be invited from outside the U.S.

He told Mail Online that he's now had discussions with venture capitalists in San Francisco keen to bankroll his new venture to the tune of 'well, if I got to keep the money I could buy two new Ferraris'.

As to what his latest brainwave might be, Ben replied: "Can't say much but what I can say."

He added: "Basically I am trying to make instant messaging more personal and in the moment."My new year's resolution was to make last year look like a warm-up."

Ben's interest in developing apps began when he was eight years old and he became hooked on Disney's Club Penguin.

Now his hero is Facebook co-founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.

Ben described seeing him at his offices in California, saying: "I walked past his office and he's just sitting there, it was pretty surreal, every time I saw him he was in meetings.

"I look up to him, for sure, he started really little and now it's the biggest social media in the world and changed the world."